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DEBT REDEMPTION AND THE TAXPAYER.

The importance of maintaining the Sinking Fund at the highest possible level becomes the more apparent when it is remembered' that all political parties appear to base their main hope of a material reduction in the National 'Expenditure upon the prospect of converting the debt into a lower interest-bearing security. That prospect, in its turn, however, can Only be realized by existing British funds steadily advancing in price, and the best guarantee of such advance is much greater progress in the matter of debt reduction than that which has been accomplished Up to the present. The point, indeed, is too often overlooked that rapid debt redemption, quite apart from the good effect which always accrues from ari appreciation in the general national credit, brings prospective relief to the taxpayer along two definite lines ; there is, first, the actual interest • saved on each £1,000;000 of debt that is redeemed, and there is, secondly, the increased likelihood of con- verting -the remaining portion of the debt on terms giVing further relief to the taxpayer.